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Many of us would rarely consider signing a middle reliever who isn't a threat for saves, someone like J.C. Romero or Ryan Madson, but if you want to take the larger view on good bullpens, look at Philadelphia. Geez, where was I when the Phillies -- yes, the Phillies -- were compiling the best bullpen ERA in the major leagues?

It's true, though, and while all the closers in your league are gone, as well as the Jonathan Broxton/Scott Linebrink types who pitch well and lurk for saves, the next best thing is to look toward the top overall bullpens. When the closer is good, and the setup man is good, well, it tends to be contagious among all the relievers. And through Tuesday's games, the Phillies' 2.73 bullpen ERA is second to none -- despite having a seeming lack of depth to start the season, employing Clay Condrey and finding Rudy Seanez off the scrap heap, being without closer Brad Lidge for more than a week, and having to enter each Adam Eaton start in around the fifth inning. Shocking, I say!

While Philly's starters rank No. 22 in the bigs with a 4.73 ERA, the team is being saved by those who don't start. Fantasy owners can learn from this. The rotation is 11-12, but the bullpen is 11-6. Lidge was feared and avoided by fantasy owners before the season, since he allowed too many home runs -- and not just to Albert Pujols -- and was leaving cozy Houston for ultra-cozy Citizens Bank Park. I mean, how could that possibly work out, especially with two offseason knee surgeries?

Tom Gordon is a thousand years old, and even when he was earning a save filling in for Lidge in April, he wasn't owned in many leagues. Madson's ERA is high, but look at the 1.25 WHIP and you can see that all will be well. Chad Durbin has been a very good long man. Seanez is competent. Romero has been one of the best lefty relievers in baseball since the Red Sox let him go, allowing a run in one of every 10 appearances with his new NL club. And Lidge just permitted his first earned run in 18 terrific innings.

In deep leagues, or those one-league formats, pitchers like Romero and Durbin are owned. Every win and every save matters there, and 50 innings with a 3.50 ERA is welcomed. Really, it's more than welcomed, it's critical. I lost a very prestigious NL-only league a few years back, as then-competitor and now-colleague Tristan Cockcroft surely recalls, when Mike Fetters was solid all year long for the Pirates and Diamondbacks until the final week of the season. That fancy Fetters ERA of 2.72 went well over 4 on the final Saturday, when "he was just getting work" and allowed five earned runs while registering two outs. They say getting work, but what kind of work is that, really? The guy could've thrown pitches in the parking lot and not imploded my ERA.

Fetters was fine before that, highlighting the point that it takes but a few bad nights to irrevocably destroy a relief pitcher's peripheral numbers. We saw this happen to Broxton, Chad Qualls and Justin Speier over the weekend, three capable, reliable right-handers who are owned in more than single-league formats, but mixed leagues. What did they do to your ERA?

Stick with those fellas, however, and their team bullpens as well. The Dodgers were actually the second-best bullpen before the weekend, and remain in the top five. Broxton, Joe Beimel and, believe it or not, Chan Ho Park (a pace for 109 relief innings and a 2.16 ERA!) are doing just fine behind Takashi Saito. Arizona's Brandon Lyon gets the ink, but Qualls, Juan Cruz, Tony Pena and soon Max Scherzer are all ownable. I saw a stat a few weeks ago that had four of the five top bullpen ERAs were coming from the NL West, by the way. Things changed quickly, right, Manny Corpas and Brad Hennessey (38 hits in 16 innings, are you kidding)? Anyway, I'd pick the Diamondbacks to have baseball's top bullpen overall when all is said and done. We discuss the top -- and bottom -- closers every week, and we've dealt with the best holds guys and strikeout relievers, but don't forget about the overall bullpens. The Athletics, Dodgers, Marlins and Rays, believe it or not, are the teams ranked just behind the Phillies for relief ERA. There are number of valuable fantasy pieces who don't get saves hiding here, like Dan Wheeler, Renyel Pinto, Santiago Casilla and J.P. Howell. Meanwhile, stay away from some of the non-closers names on the Rangers, Padres, Nationals and even the Angels, as they are struggling.

And now, like every week, on to the rest of the ample news coming from major league bullpens -- slanted for fantasy purposes, of course.

Jason Isringhausen, Cardinals: With apologies to Ryan Franklin, who I think could do just fine in the closer role, I don't think that's Tony La Russa's long-term direction Tony La Russa. He wants Izzy back there pitching well, which he did for much of April before hitting the May showers. Isringhausen is tied with Eric Gagne for most blown saves, and it's somewhat ironic both closers lost their roles over the weekend, and kind of asked for the changes to be made, and were then seen discussing their woes together Monday. While Gagne's manager Ned Yost did an about face and let his closer regain his role after about 48 hours, I think Izzy has saves in his future as well. And despite the fact Gagne saved Tuesday's win over the Dodgers, it wasn't a perfect inning by any means, and I certainly trust Isringhausen more. Four of Izzy's five blown saves came in a two-week span, and neither walks nor home runs were the main problem. I think he gets his command back soon and is closing before the next Relief Efforts. In the meantime, Franklin, the major league leader in holds, is the closer, is a must-own in case this situation doesn't reverse itself. Most ESPN fantasy owners picked up on this, as Franklin is owned in 95.8 percent of standard leagues. Russ Springer, meanwhile, is getting no such love, probably because he has more walks than strikeouts. As for Gagne, good for him for registering save No. 10, but I still don't think he gets to 20.

Manny Acosta, Braves: He's been Atlanta's closer for nearly a month since Rafael Soriano went on the DL, and he's managed all of two saves. He had three, ever so briefly, but the official scorer erred in rewarding him with one, since Acosta had entered that game with a three-run lead, nobody on, and one out in the ninth inning. The fact Acosta hadn't started the ninth was a sign in itself. Regardless, some combination of Soriano and/or John Smoltz is going to usurp the role from Acosta before May ends, and you don't want to own Acosta after that. Not that he was helping you all that much to start with. Really, let's expand this situation a bit and note that all the Braves relief pitchers can be regarded as sell-high options. While I think Smoltz is going to be just fine in the role, we do have to remember he's a few years older than the last time he closed, and his elbow and shoulder are kind of being held together by scotch tape. Soriano isn't a lock either. And I don't expect Jeff Bennett to accrue any more saves.

Ramon Ramirez, Royals: Nothing's wrong with the dominant Joakim Soria, but as with most setup men, all it takes is one injury to turn them into closers. Ramirez leads the Royals in holds, and his strikeout rate per nine innings is actually better than Soria's. Ramirez had a washout 2007 in Colorado after being an underrated value as a rookie, but now he's destroying right-handed hitters. Ramirez isn't a bad addition in AL-only formats, and appears next in line ahead of Leo Nunez and Joel Peralta, among others.

Brian Shouse, Brewers: You know, if I had to pick who would have received saves in the 48-hour span it took Gagne to beg out of closing, then beg back in, I wouldn't have chosen this 39-year-old lefty. However, there he was closing out a Mother's Day win over St. Louis. Salomon Torres started that ninth inning by allowing a Troy Glaus double, then getting two outs, then walking Cesar Izturis. Did lefty Shouse really need to be brought in to face Skip Schumaker? Yadier Molina pinch hit for Schumaker and singled in Torres' run, then Shouse retired Adam Kennedy. Really, how does Schumaker get yanked from the game, but not Kennedy? Anyway, back on topic, Shouse is one of the most popular free-agent additions in ESPN leagues, up to 10.7 percent, but he'll be one of the most dropped when users realize save No. 2 might not be coming … ever. I remain convinced when Gagne really does lose the job, Yost will go with Torres, maybe for more than two outs the next time. Then again, when Gagne was trying to blow Tuesday's game, Shouse was warming up as lefty Juan Pierre strode to the plate. I thought Shouse was getting save No. 2 right there. Hmmm, maybe this wasn't a meaningless save after all.

Chicago White Sox: Obviously fantasy owners should keep an eye on Milwaukee and St. Louis, but stay in the Midwest for Chicago's South Side team, which is piling on the holds to set up Bobby Jenks. Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink were brought in to bridge the gap to the closer, and entering Tuesday's game, over the past week this duo had five holds and no runs allowed in 8 2/3 innings. Of course, Dotel didn't fare so well Tuesday night, breaking a scoreless tie and losing the game. Still, Dotel is next in line, and it's nice to see his nine strikeouts over the past week, an impressive total. There's nothing wrong with Jenks, but the other right-handers in the White Sox bullpen are becoming ownable as well.

Tuesday night was not a particularly good one for a few closers who hadn't allowed a run the first six weeks of the season. Brad Lidge permitted his first run of the season, but he did save the 5-4 win. Mariano Rivera, in his second inning of relief at Tampa Bay, didn't get an out in that 11th inning and blew a tie game. Joakim Soria, Billy Wagner and B.J. Ryan are the only closers to remain perfect. … Joe Borowski appears to have found his lost velocity, and by most accounts, his return is expected before May ends. It might come in the next week. Meanwhile, Rafael Betancourt ceded a save to Masa Kobayashi Tuesday, though the native of Japan entered in the eighth inning and then finished when the lead went from 1-0 to 4-0. … That fancy Jonathan Broxton ERA jumped from 1.80 to 5.28 because of Sunday's nightmare outing. Don't be shocked if Broxton is hurt, which might explain the outing. … Troy Percival hadn't allowed a run all season until Toronto got three off him in a blown save last week, but the Rays closer rebounded with a few saves against the Angels. Percival blew Tuesday's save against the Yankees on a Hideki Matsui home run as well. Is it time to sell before it's too late? … Who's closing in Texas? I think it's still C.J. Wilson, but he sputtered badly in Monday's 13-12 win, throwing 32 pitches, and was unavailable Tuesday. Was that Everyday Eddie Guardado saving Tuesday's game? Why yes, it was! Stranger things have happened, but Wilson could lose this job. Guardado does have 183 career saves.

Eric Karabell is a senior writer for ESPN.com fantasy. You can e-mail him here.